Safety device



F. E. RICHARDS SAFETY DEVICE Feb. 16, 1932.

Filed Jan. 27, 1930 F742? xtT/ii'ch aras WITNESS;

ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 16, 1932 UNITED STATES 11am: 1- RICHARDS, OI JACKSON, IISSISSIPPT sum DEVICE Q Application fled J'uaary :1, mo. Serial in. man.

My (present invention has reference to a safety evice for automobiles or like vehicles. The object of the invention is the provision of a safety device which will revent accidents of automobiles going too Fast around a curve.

A further object is the rovision of a safety device for this purpose t at includes a horizontally disposed ravity influenced weight and plungers mova Is by the shifting of the weig t to cause said plun ers to be rought against contacts to. whic are secured the wires of electric circuit and the said circuit being provided with both an audible and visible alarm as well as a means for cutting off the ignitiqn to the automobile when the machine attempts to round the curve too rapidl To the attainment of the foregoing and other objects which will resent themselves as the nature of the invention'isbetter understood the improvement also resides'in certain other novel features of construction, combination and operative association of arts, one satisfactory embodiment of which is disclosed by the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement in applied position. Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fi re 1.

On the ash or other support 1 of an automobile I fix a horizontally disposed metal c linder'2. The cylinder, on the rear face thereof has attached thereto spaced brackets and through these brackets there are passed the means 3 that hold the cylinder in proper horizontal osition upon the support 1.

Arran in an up r cylin er there is a slidable weight 4. I e weight, as disclosed by the drawings, may be in the nature of a solid cylindrical member or the said weight may be in the nature of one of a plurality of heavy spheres. The weight 4 has its ends in contact with the heads 5 of lunger rods 6. The plunger rods are guided t rough sleeves 7 havin outer disc heads 8. The cylinders and the eads therefor are of insulating material. The ends of the metal tube or cylinder 2 are threaded and have screwed thereon the flanges of caps 9 which'are of insulating material. Each cap 9 has a central contact member 10. The contact members are in the nature ofmetal rods and have their body as portions threaded through the ca s 9. By this arrangement it will be note that the contacts 10 may be adjusted with respect to the plunger rods 6. Arranged between each cap and the head 8 of eachcylinder 7 there is a coil spring 11. The springs exert a pressure between the caps and heads 8 to urge the heads away from the caps and to bring the sleeves 7 thereof into contact with the plunger heads 5. The tension of the spring and I5 likewise the adjustment of the contacts 10 with respect to the plunger rod 6 is obtained by screwing or unscrewing the ca 5 of the tube or cylinder 2. The numera 12 designates a wire which is connected to the cyl- 7o inder 2, and is suitably mounted. The contacts each have fixed thereon a wire 13 in an electric circuit which includes a battery 14. The circuit is that employed in connection with any ordinary automobile motor and 15 which includes the usual induction, make brake means,-etc. In the circuit there is a lamp 15 and an alarm 16. Also in the circuit there is a solenoid switch 17 that is wired to a transformer 18, one of the wires of the transformer being grounded and the other being hitched to a secondary wire leading to the ignition and spark plugs.

With a simple construction of elements as above described and the arrangement of the improvement in a horizontal position in an automobile or like vehicle it Wlll be ap arent that the contacts 10 may be adjuste with respect to the contacts provided by the lung or rod 6, so that the weight when shi ted in the tube or cylinder 2 forcibly engages with one of the plunger heads 5 to move the same against the tension of the spring 11 to brin the rod 6 against one of the contacts 10 an thereby energize the circuit to illuminate the O5 bulb 15, sound the alarm 16 and shut off the ignition of the automobile, when such sliding of the weight 4 is occasioned by the ra 1d travel of the machine around a curve in ei er direction. m9

springs in the cy It is believed that the simplicity of the construction and the advantages thereof, as well as the life saving property embodied therein will be understood and apparent so that further detailed description will not be required.

The strength of the springs with respect to the weight of the sliding weight 4 are so proportioned as to give the danger si al at any time within an allowed mar in 0 safety which is thought best and o viously the weight may be of any desired shape, such for instance as a sphere or the like.

Having described the invention, I claim:

A circuit closure for the purpose set forth,

comprising a metal tube, caps of insulating material closing the tube, a contact member screwed centrally through each of the caps, a weight normally arranged in the center of the tube, metal plunger rods having heads which are in contact with the ends of the weight, sleeves of insulatin material through which the rods are guide and said sleeves having disc ends that are in contact with the bore of the c linder, and coiled pressure linder between the disc ends and the caps.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. FRANK E. RICHARDS. 

